Film Reviews by AER

Book of Blood is a very poorly scripted horror flick based on two Clive Barker stories. The drama is plodding and the performances stilted. Some of the supposedly sxty dialogue is hilarious! This makes some of the later Hellraiser sequels look like masterpieces. Look out for Doug Bradley in a very short cameo supposedly to validate the Barker connection further. Shoddy SFX put the final nail in the coffin. I think I'd sooner be a Cenobite than watch dreck like this ever again. 0.5 out of 10.

Usually I am drawn to films like this but I felt locked out of this one. It was well-crafted but it bypassed me.

Huge editing mistake forgiven that renders some of the story slightly nonsensical, Louis Malle's (almost) last film is the type of British film you don't see anymore. Jeremy Irons played a lot of these types of sexually virile lunatics in high-powered jobs back then and this was one of his most pathetic. His Tory MP has an affair with his own son's mysterious (quiet) girlfriend played by Juliette Binoche. They have a lot of athletic sex and then disaster strikes but not as melodramatically as you may think... we're British godammit (HOLD THE LINE on those tears and emotions).... I saw this on release in early 1993 and unlikely many films from that time it still works and does the job. It sketches emotionally blocked characters deftly but not deeply. Louis Malle gives this a light touch andI'm glad I revisited it.

Look out for David Thewlis and Peter Stormare in very early small roles.

Documentaries don't come more gripping than this chronicle of the rescue of a junior football team and their coach from a cave system in Chang Mai, N Thailand. Rising torrents of rain filled the tunnels cutting the boys off from safety leaving them stranded for over 2 weeks. The efforts that went in to saving them were astonishing. Watch this before you see Ron Howard's Hollywood dramatisation. I've not seen that one (yet) but it will be hard pushed to be better... Crucial watching.

The plot has been detailed in other reviews so I'll skip to the chase.

OK I found Colossal to be mean-spirited because some of the main characters were unbelievably nasty but were only ciphers. It was hard to believe that these regular alcoholic types woudl have no problem with laying a city to waste and killing hundreds of people in a faraway city with their careless actions. This is where the unconvincing part comes in - these alcoholics were thin caricatures that looked really good considering how hammered they got every single day. Jason Sudeikis' character is wildly unconvincing as he toggles between nice guy, mad guy and very evil guy.

On the plus side, the film is well made and the Kaiju look great. It's just the human drama is a bad fit for this and it left me cold because it seemed half-hearted and in Anne Hathaway's case - miscast. She's usually great but here, she looks out of place and a bit confused or embarrassed.

2 out of 5 - Well made but asked us to invest in thin, stupid and unrealistic characters. (OK, it is a fantasy who needs realism? but the makers seem to be strving for a mix of this and it doesn't work - sorry). A Colossal miss.

It's hard to know where the depiction of rich white kids aping hip hop gangstas starts and where the actors playing the former begin... The whole film is infected with the naffness of the rich kids. Sadly I think there may really be people like this in real-life - lost moneyed up kids who have appropriated the culture of poor hustlers that have been deified in movies and music. It doesn't make for a very good movie though - I found it cringe-worthy especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'wigga' - he's awful. See if you can spot Channing Tatum in a very early role, and Tuco (Raymond Cruz) from Breaking Bad. This sh*t was wack and fake.

Despite attempts by Jack Lowden to breathe air and life into Terence Davies' film Benediction, this is dead/ No heartbeat can be detected in the string of long scenes marred by stilted acting and a plodding narrative structure. A good start only highlights that there isn't all that much to say about Siegfried Sassoon's life beyond his WW1 period as a thwarted conscientious objector. Now we know why the usually fantastic Peter Capaldi only usually plays Scotsmen - he can't do accents. Very disappointing.

What do you need from a good horror film? Great acting that sells the fear, a good concept, tension, fear of the unknown and originality (this is optional). This no-budget horror film is highly potent, very effective and works brilliantly within its own confines. The cast are great and convincing, the set-up economical and the concept brilliant. With a running time of less than 1 hour you won't get bored. If you are a horror film fan, you've probably seen a lot of films like this already, it's hardly original but it delivers what it set out bring to you; a ******* scary time.

Forget about all the silly real-life noise on Twitter/Social Media about what went on behind the scenes during the making / release of this film. It detracts from a decent mid-sized mainstream sci-fi film. Wearing its influences on its sleeve you have everything from The Stepford Wives, The Truman Show and Mad Men to compare it to. The twist is borrowed from one of the biggest films there is but I won't spoil it for you.... On its own terms its entertaining, Florence Pugh and the rest of the cast do well in thin-roles and the mechanics of the plot are very interesting and present some food for thought without getting bogged down in infodumps or big explanations. Much has been made of Harry Styles performance but it's not that showy a role and he does well-enough to serve the story, in that he doesn't stand out - which is what has been called for. The look and style of the film is fantastic and the OST is atmospheric too. Elsewhere it's been criticised for being unoriginal - I don't hear those claims angled at the endless superhero/sequel/reboots do you? This was made from an original script - not based on novel, old film, a product.... I can count on one hand the number of films like this released at the cinema in 2022.... Watch it in a vacuum and maybe in a few years after everybody has forgotten about who said what, who spat at whom, who was sacked or walked.... zzzzzzz This should stand alone as the modest and cool little flick it is...

Lance Henriksen is a revelation in Viggo Mortensen's directorial debut. Henriksen plays a bitter, prejudiced old man with on-set dementia and cancer. It's a tough watch as he lays waste to his caring family. It's written and directed with care and stands should-to-shoulder with recent - contrasting dramas about caring for aged relatives... ie: Supernova, The Father, and to a lesser-degree the Australian horror-drama Relic. Very moving and especially worth watching for Lance Henriksen's once in a lifetime performance. Those that love this actor for his sci-fi/horrors won't have seen him like this. He's a very talented actor anyway but Viggo Mortensen has gifted him the role of his career. His best since Dead Man, Near Dark, and maybe even Aliens/Alien 3.

A future drama classic.

Rewarding semi-documentary about the residents of Bombay Beach and other settlements along the forgotten Salton Sea in California. Enlivened with dance sequences and some lightly dramatised sequences, this voyeuristic documentary shadows some interesting, troubled characters. It's like the opposite of the American dream. An insight into a hidden America we're not often allowed to see.

Remember when films like these came out every week at the cinema? I think Denzel Washington is about the only actor that still fronts films like this on this scale. This serial killer film was had an early leading role for Angelina Jolie>>.. and she is pretty good in this up until the crap ending where the murderer is revealed and feels compelled to share his masterplan before the good guys rescue whoever is in peril. Denzel Washington plays a crippled forensic investigator who only has use of two fingers and his head after an accident.... A Jolie is his rookie partner who scours murder sites for clues... The killer is dismembering and stealing bones from his victims whilst taunting DW & AJ with fiendish clues... Seven this ain't but it's a lot better than some of the other films released around the same time that trod similar streets.

I am a big fan of the first Clerks film; I can't remember much about Clerks II but I think it had it's moments - however Clerks III is dire. It's truly unfunny and shows that Kevin Smith is creatively bankrupt. This comedy churns over barren ground searching for jokes and the acting from everybody concerned is shocking. It's like watching a fanmade tribute by the WI.... Awful in every way possible. The worst film I've seen at the cinema in 2022....

I can't find a fault with this visually amazing and creative take on Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. All you need to do is compare this to Guy Ritchie's very sorry King Arthur - Legend of the Sword and you know you're in an entirely different league. When legend/fantasy films are pumped out all over the purpose without care or love, this version by David Lowery offers thought, mystery and atmosphere for days. Pumped up with excellent understated performances, this is one of the finest English-language films of 2020. 10 out of 10.

You can almost imagine this film retold as an Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit style) so madcap are its stylings and performances. It's a lot of fun, very light and quick of pace. It doesn't compete with Knives Out for prestige but it is streets ahead of Kenneth Branagh's ultra lame Death on the Nile.... The central whodunnit is almost a red herring in itself... Packed full of lively performances from everybody even down to bit part players... Fun but disposable. It could have been even funnier but I'd settle for quality light-entertainment like this instead.